Judgment and mercy exist in balance in the Bible. The reading from Amos 7 emphasizes mercy, but, just a few verses later, God promises to destroy the dynasty of King Jeroboam II of Israel (reigned 788-747 B.C.E.), without relenting. Judgment and mercy are collective in Amos 7, but judgment is individual in 1 Timothy 1.

By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith.

–verse 19b, Revised Standard Version–Second Edition (1971)

In both instances rejecting divine counsel leads to negative consequences. God might relent in, for example, sending fire or a plague of locusts, as in Amos 7, but consequences will arrive consequently. On the other hand, we can love God fully and our neighbors as ourselves. That will not mean that nothing bad will happen to us, but we will please God and help many people.

The choice is ours, for we have the free will to decide.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 18, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

The comedian Lewis Black told a joke explaining why God seems more violent in the Hebrew Bible than in the New Testament. Having a son calmed him down. That is, of course, bad theology, for it falls under the heading of the Arian heresy. Furthermore, the God of the Book of Revelation is not the deity of “Kum ba Yah,” a song I despise for several reasons. The Smiter-in-Chief is in full form in the composite story of Noah, based on older stories.

Rewritten folklore and mythology in the Bible presents us with the opportunity to ponder profound theology. We might think that we know a particular tale better than we actually do, so we ought to avoid switching on the automatic pilot. Human immorality saddens God’s heart in Genesis 6:6, but Noah has found favor with God. “Noah,” in Hebrew, is “favor” spelled backward. A note in The Jewish Study Bible–Second Edition (2014) tells me that this

indicates that human perversion and divine grief will not be the last word.

–page 19

Furthermore, the Hebrew word for the ark occurs in just one other story in the Hebrew Bible. It applies also to the basket containing young Moses in Exodus 2. Again The Jewish Study Bible–Second Edition (2014) helps me dig deeper into the scriptures:

Noah foreshadows Moses even as Moses, removed from the water, foreshadows the people Israel, whom he leads to safety through the death-dealing sea that drowns their oppressors (Exod. chs 14-15). The great biblical tale of redemption occurs first in a shorter, universal form, then in a longer, particularistic one.

–page 20

The author of Psalm 51 (traditionally King David, but knows for sure?) understood human sinfulness well. So did the author of 1 Timothy, writing under the name of St. Paul the Apostle. Laws, he noted,

are not framed for people who are good.

–1:9, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

That statement applies to divine law, certainly. Indeed, in context, it pertains to the Law of Moses. That code, containing timeless principles and culturally specific examples thereof, sometimes becomes a confusing array of laws. Many people mistake culturally specific examples for timeless principles, thereby falling into legalism. The pillars of that code are:

We mere mortals are totally dependent on God,

We humans depend upon each other also,

We humans are responsible for each other, and

We humans are responsible to each other.

Turning to John 10, we read of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. The sheep need the shepherd, who protects them and lays down his life for them. The sheep also know the shepherd’s voice. I, as a Christian, am one of the sheep. I know my need for God and the ease with which I yield to many temptations. The laws of God exist for people such as me. Divine guidance and redemption play out in my life.

The individual part of religion is important, of course, but it is hardly everything. The collective aspect is crucial also. This truth is especially evident in Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Roman Catholicism. Much of Protestantism, however, has gone overboard with regard to individualism. Redemption is not just my story or your story. No, it is our story as we relate to God and God relates to us. Society exerts a powerful influence upon our notions of morality and reverence; it shapes us, just as we influence it. May we be salt and light, shaping society according to the four pillars of the Law of Moses and according to the unconditional and free (yet not cheap) love of God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 18, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Nehemiah 1:1-2:10

Psalm 15 (Morning)

Psalms 48 and 4 (Evening)

1 Timothy 1:1-20

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Lord, who may dwell in your holy tabernacle?

who may abide upon your holy hill?

Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right,

who speaks the truth from his heart.

–Psalm 15:1-2, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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Yahweh, who shall be a guest in your tent?

Who shall dwell upon your holy mountain?

He who walks with integrity and practices justice,

and speaks the truth from his heart.

–Psalm 15:1-2, The Anchor Bible

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This instruction has love as its goal, the love which springs from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a genuine faith. Through lack of these some people have gone astray in a wilderness of words. They set out to be teachers of the law, although they do not understand either the words or the subjects about which they are so dogmatic.

–1 Timothy 1:5-7, The Revised English Bible

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Psalm 15 reflects a dialogue between a priest and one seeking entrance to the Temple. The requirements are ethical–acting with integrity and doing justice to others. The portion of the psalm I chose not to reproduce contains details about what those entail, per the Law of Moses.

Not keeping that law, according to Nehemiah and other portions of the Hebrew Scriptures, led to the downfall of kingdoms and exiles of populations. So one reading indicates one way to go wrong. The other way to err we find in 1 Timothy: losing sight of

a pure heart, a good conscience, and a genuine faith,

thereby becoming lost in

a wilderness of words

and stranded in legalistic dogmatism. That is one of my main criticisms of all forms of fundamentalism.

Timeless principles have ever-changing practical applications, which are context-specific. May we, by grace, not go astray in a wilderness of words. Nor may we disregard these timeless principles of integrity and justice. No, may we, by grace, love our neighbors where they are and as effectively as possible. May neither indifference nor dogmatism stand in the way.

O God, because without you we are not able to please you mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Changing God conceptes in the Bible interest me. Yahweh, in Genesis and Exodus, is willing to annihilate sinful populations. But God, in Jeremiah 4, holds back the worst of judgment for sins. And God, as characters in parables in Luke 15:1-10, finds lost, sinful people precious, even necessary to find and to redeem.

I like the translation of Psalm 14:1 from TANAKH: The Holy Scripures. The standard English translation from the Hebrew text into English is that a fool claims that God does not exist. But, as Atheism was rare in the original context of that psalm,

God does not care

works well as what the fool says. The fool acknowledges the existence of God while being a practical Atheist. This rendering of the verse reminds me of the Deist concept of God as a watchmaker who refuses to intervene in events.

The God of the Bible–whichever understanding of that deity from which one speaks–cares deeply. And I, as a Christian, affirm that the Second Person of the Trinity became incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth, who died and rose again, defeating perfidious schemes and conquering evil. And, if each of us is precious to God, how precious should we be to each other?

Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.

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1 Timothy 1:15-17 (The Jerusalem Bible):

Here is a saying that you can rely on and nobody should doubt: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I myself am the greatest of them; and if mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ meant to make me the greatest evidence of his inexhaustible patience for all the other people who would later have to trust in him to come to eternal life. To the eternal King, the undying, invisible, and only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalm 113 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 Hallelujah!

Give Praise, you servants of the LORD;

praise the Name of the LORD.

2 Let the Name of the LORD be blessed,

from this time forth for evermore.

3 From the rising of the sun to its going down

let the Name of the LORD be praised.

4 The LORD is high above all nations,

and his glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like the LORD our God, who sits enthroned on high,

but stoops to behold the heavens and the earth?

6 He takes up the weak out of the dust

and lifts up the poor from the ashes.

7 He sets them with the princes,

with the princes of his people.

8 He makes the woman of a childless house

to be a joyful mother of children.

Luke 6:43-49 (The Jerusalem Bible):

[Jesus continued,]

There is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces sound fruit. For every tree can be told by its own fruit; people do not pick figs from thorns, nor gather grapes from brambles. A good man draws what is good from the store of goodness in his heart; a bad man draws what is bad from the store of badness. For a man’s words from what fills his heart.

Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,” and not do what I say?

Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and acts on them–I will show you what he is like. He is like the man who when he built his house dug, and dug deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man who built his house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!

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The Collect:

Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Theology contains many subtle factors. They fascinate me. I have concluded that the best theology is too complex to fit neatly on a bumper sticker, in fact. Consider, for example, the Lutheran understanding of Single Predestination. I spent at least an hour late last night and early this morning pouring through the Book of Concord, biographies of Martin Luther, and volumes of comparative theology to be sure that I understand this perspective factually and correctly. Luther wrote and spoke about predestination, accepting it as a reality. But he also discouraged speculation about whether one is or is not predestined to Heaven. Furthermore, Luther believed that all who trust Christ and in his promises will find redemption. In simple terms, regardless of whether a specific Christian is predestined to Heaven, God will redeem him or her. Jesus is the trump card over a lack of predestination to Eternal Election. And the Predestined will be Christian, in this theology, of course. (There is much more to this aspect of Lutheran theology, of course.)

If we are in Christ, whether by Single Predestination or the witness of Holy Spirit (Here I channel the 1903 U.S. Presbyterian version of the Westminster Confession of Faith.), we will bear good fruit. Except in the case of accidents, what we say and do will flow from our attitudes. Here, as we say in the United States, is where the rubber meets the road. And what is our standard? The example of Jesus is; compassion is. As much as Jesus is the trump card over a lack of predestined state to Eternal Election, compassion is the trump card over minute aspects of religious traditions and law codes.

Above: Ground Zero, New York, New York, September 17, 2001

Image in the Public Domain

That, you might say, is obvious, well, and good. But what about a practical application. Here it is. Jesus said to love one’s enemies and to bless those who curse and persecute us. He said also that everyone is everybody else’s neighbor, and that we should treat each other accordingly. I claim to follow Jesus. So these instructions apply to me in all circumstances. If I do not act accordingly, I do not follow Jesus, to the extent that I deviate from this ethic.

The attacks of September 11 (in the proximity of this post or on it, depending on the year) constituted terrorism and mass murder. I make no excuse for either. But the actions of some do not justify subsequent hatred, murder, violence, fear-mongering, and scapegoating. Whom would Jesus scapegoat? Nobody. Whom would Jesus kill? Nobody. Whom would Jesus torture? Nobody. The teachings of Jesus stand in stark contrast to a bumper sticker I saw in Statesboro, Georgia, in 2002. It said:

KILL THEM ALL AND LET ALLAH SORT THEM OUT.

Bearing good fruit can be a difficult task, but grace is available to us.

To the eternal King, the undying, invisible, and only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.

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1 Timothy 1:1-2, 12-14 (The Jerusalem Bible):

From Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, true child of mine in the faith; wishing you grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.

…

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, and who judged me faithful enough to call me into his service even though I used to be a blasphemer and did all I could to injure and discredit the faith. Mercy, however, was shown me, because until I became a believer I had been acting in ignorance; and the grace of our Lord filled me with faith and with the love that is in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 16 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you;

I have said to the LORD, “You are my Lord,

my good above all other.”

2 All my delight is upon the godly that are in the land,

upon those who are noble among the people.

3 But those who run after other gods

shall have their troubles multiplied.

4 Their libations of blood I will not offer,

nor take the names of their gods upon my lips.

5 O LORD, you are my portion and my cup;

it is you who uphold my lot.

6 My boundaries enclose a pleasant land;

indeed, I have a goodly heritage.

7 I will bless the LORD who gives me counsel;

my heart teaches me, night after night.

8 I have set the LORD always before me;

because he is at my right hand I shall not fall.

9 My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices;

my body also shall rest in hope.

10 For you will not abandon me to the grave,

nor let your holy one see the Pit.

11 You will show me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy,

and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

Luke 6:39-42 (The Jerusalem Bible):

He [Jesus] also told a parable to them,

Can one blind man guide another? Surely both will fall into a pit? The disciple is not superior to this teacher; the fully trained disciple will always be like his teacher. Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,’ when you cannot see the plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter that is in your brother’s eye.

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The Collect:

Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

There is a lively academic debate regarding the authorship of 1 Timothy. Did Paul write the epistle during his time at Rome, or did someone writing in Paul’s name produce the letter later? Although very interesting to many people, this issue is irrelevant to my purpose in this post. I follow Lectio Divino, the Benedictine practice of reading the Bible for spiritual formation, here.

So, regardless of the identity of the author of 1 Timothy, there is nothing in the reading for today that contradict’s Paul’s back story prior to his conversion. That is the first important fact to consider relative to 1 Timothy 1:1-2, 12-14. Paul, when Saul of Tarsus, did act out of his spiritual ignorance. And committed and condoned murders while in this state. But God did not give up on him. And Paul became an essential figure in early Christian history. Those of us who have come into this world and the Christian faith after him stand on his shoulders.

But even those of us within the fold are not free of spiritual blindness. Paul was not free of such blindness, even after his conversion. And spiritual vision did not always translate into actions. Epistles that Paul either wrote or dictated testify to these facts. We still judge others, do we not? But Jesus said not to do this. We do not know all the struggles that any other person faces. Neither do we understand all that occurs between any other person and God. For that matter, we tend to notice faults (real or misperceived) in others before we acknowledge them in ourselves. (When I say “we,” I include myself in “we.”)

Would you have given up on Saul of Tarsus? Come on, be honest. I will start; I might have given up on him. This is a purely hypothetical question, so I can provide only a hypothetical answer. But God did not. Ananias of Damascus of Antioch did not give up on Saul/Paul.

Here is the potent question with which I leave you, O reader: Would have had the spiritual courage to trust and obey God, and therefore act as Ananias did? It is a purely hypothetical question, but it is useful for spiritual formation.